Surviving a heart attack is a wonderful thing. Every one who gets this second chance should take utmost care of the heart. And not just taking proper medication, they should also maintain a proper diet. A heart-healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables and fish reduces by a large extent the risk of a second heart attack in those with cardiovascular diseases, McMaster University researchers have found.
They studied almost 32,000 patients [average age 66.5 years] in 40 countries for over five years and discovered that those who ate a heart-healthy diet had a multiple benefits – 35 per cent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular death, 14 per cent reduction in the risk of another heart attack, 28 per cent reduction in the risk of congestive heart failure
“At times, patients don’t think they need to follow a healthy diet since their medications have already lowered their blood pressure and cholesterol – that is wrong,” said Mahshid Dehghan, the study’s lead author and nutritionist at McMaster University’s Population Health Research Institute (PHRI). “Dietary modification has benefits in addition to those seen with Aspirin, angiotensin modulators, lipid-lowering agents and beta blockers.”
While drug treatments, such as Aspirin, do lower the risk of a second heart attack, the McMaster study is the first to show that a high quality diet also reduces the risk by a significant extent.